Food Energy Water Nexus Workshop

May Wu, Ph.D.

Energy Systems Division

Argonne National Laboratory

Panel 2: How to Measure All Three: Tools and Models

Oct. 7-9, 2015 Baltimore, MD

Food, energy, and water are intertwined. Food crop production relies on water, land, energy, and climate; energy production requires water resource; and water supply needs energy.

Competing demand for water resource in the production of electricity (from all sources), fuels (conventional, non-conventional, and renewables) and food, feed, and fiber.

– Shale gas: Large volume of water required in short period of time during initial fracking

– Agricultural crop and biofuel feedstock: Irrigation and crop growth – Thermoelectric power plant: cooling

Dynamic relationship between energy and fuel production and water sustainability. Increased water stress could disrupt their production, and its ripple effect can be felt across various regions in multiple sectors.

A growing population demands increased supply of food, energy, and water.

2

Food – Energy - Water: The Context

Water issue is regional. The extent of water stress varies substantially with geographic regions.

Water is valued differently from one region to another, depending on water resource richness, the potential disruptive impact of water shortage on economics can be substantial.

According to the forecast, the world may experience increased flood and draught in various regions currently producing food, feed, and biofuel feedstock.

– A shift of the frequency and intensity of precipitation and heating days – These changes are expected to be temporal

The impact of climate change on water quality in agricultural landscapes varies with feedstock type, soil type, and geographic regions; the extent to which this change affects large-scale food-energy production can be complex.

3

Food – Energy - Water: The Context

4

Water for BioEnergy / BioFuels

Current research incorporate local water resource constraints, in addition to economic and infrastructure considerations, in feedstock production and biorefinery siting.

Cellulosic biomass feedstock of 0.5 - 1.1 billion dry tons potentially available for biofuel production by 2030, to replace 30% of the nation’s current petroleum consumption.

– A majority of current biofuels consists of conventional crops, for which about 11-13% is irrigated.

Historical Water Use Overview – Dominant Sector and Regional Variations

12% 1% 5%

37%

1% 2%

1%

41%

Public Supply

Domestic

Industrial

Irrigation

Livestock

Aquaculture

Mining

Thermoelectric

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Water Withdrawal

With

draw

al w

ater

con

sum

ed

Corn basket

Irrigation Water Withdrawal CA

https://greet.es.anl.gov/publication-consumptive-water

Municipal wastewater from POTW – Biological in nature, presence of nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus) – Irrigation and industrial application in the west of U.S. has been practiced – Extensive use for cooling in the Western of U.S.

Saline ground water and sea water – TDS level dependent application (treatment required) – Electricity generation in some thermoelectric power plant – Salt tolerate crops – Salt tolerate biological process

Coal-mine water – High sulfur content – Application in oil/gas field exploration and production has been investigated

Alternative Water Resources

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Water use Water quality Water resource availability Region-specific crop mix Baseline, future scenario assessment Sustainability indicators Potential competing water use

Agricultural data and knowledge Climate, hydrology, soil, land cover Geospatial analysis at watershed,

county, state, region scale Across production supply chain with a

focus on feedstock production and processing

Investigate Water - Energy – Food Relationship from Biofuel Perspective

Water Footprint Framework

Embedded water use

Water Footprint Pathways for Energy/Fuel Production Corn Corn stover Soybean Wheat straw Switchgrass and Miscanthus Forest wood resource, short rotation

woody crops Algae, rapeseeds, camelina, others

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Petroleum gasoline and diesel – U.S. on-shore wells – Canadian oil sands – Oil shale

Natural gas – Conventional – Shale

Electricity – Coal, NG, Nuclear – Solar, wind, geothermal, biomass – Cooling systems – Generation technologies

Spatial resolution: County, state, USDA regions – biofuel State level – power PADD, Canadian regions – oil Play – shale gas

Conversion process: Biochemical

‒ hydrolysis, fermentation Thermal chemical

‒ gasification, pyrolysis Chemical

‒ trans-esterification Process water

‒ management and treatment

Alternative water resources

Water Intensity of Biofuel Produced from Corn, Corn Stover, Soybean, and Wheat Straw

• Substantial variability in water footprint across feedstock and regions

• Identify water stress hot spot to address water availability issue

• Ground water is the major water resource for irrigation and processing

http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011WR011809

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es3002162

Blue water – Footprint is solely dependent on

conversion process – No irrigation – Water use ranged from 2-6 gal/gal

Green and grey water – Area with low WF identified

Water Footprint of Biofuel Produced from Switchgrass and Miscanthus

2030 $80.00/dry ton

2022 $50.00/dry ton

https://greet.es.anl.gov/publication-country-level-water-footprint

• Estimated WF from forest feedstock mix (S.E.of U.S.) ─ Refinery sizing and logistic design scenario analyses (Multi-lab collaboration) ─ Feedstock mix is the determining factor for WF of mixed alcohol biofuel pathway ─ Fertilizer grey water at watershed scale is scarce. http://stacks.iop.org/1748-9326/8/i=3/a=035015

Representative forest resources in SE of U.S. Hardwood: sweet gum Softwood: loblolly SRWC

Selected counties. No irrigation. Fertilizer applied for

softwood. Gasification-mixed

alcohol process.

Impact of Feedstock Mix, Refinery Sizing, and Logistic Design

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• Characterizing response of nutrients, stream flow and suspended sediments to various agricultural factors: o Land use change o Agricultural cropping system o Land management and cropping practices - BMPs

‒ Riparian buffer ‒ Cover crop ‒ High efficiency irrigation ‒ Tillage ‒ Fertilizer application

Impact of Land Use on Water Quality for Agricultural System

Adopting landscape design and management strategies to minimize undesirable impacts of climate change on water quality.

Effect of riparian buffer

Ha and Wu, 2015. BioFPR

Water Use in Biorefinery Varies with Feedstock and Conversion Process

Cooling Tower 53%

Boiler 3%

Dryer 42%

DDGS2%

5.8 4.7

4.2 4.0 3.0 2.7

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

Dry mills(NREL)

USDAsurvey

MN drymills

MN drymills

RFAsurvey

UICsurvey

1998 2003 2005 2006 2007 2010

Cons

umpt

ive

Wat

er U

se

(Lite

r wat

er/L

iter f

uel e

than

ol)

Conventional biofuel - Corn dry mill Cellulosic biofuel - Biorefinery

0 2 4 6

Biochemical

Gasification

Pyrolysis

Gal of water per gal of biofuel

14 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00267-009-9370-0

Water Use for Petroleum Oil Production

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00267-009-9370-0

Water Intensity in Electricity Generation

0 10 20 30 40 50

Once through

Cooling pond

Once through

Cooling pond

Once through

Cooling pond

Once through

Cooling pond

Conv

entio

nal c

oal

Nuc

lear

NG

CC*

NG

and

oil

Water factor (gallons/kwh)

Withdrawal, gallons/kwh

Consumption gallons/kwh

42%

1%

25%

19%

8% 2% 3%

Coal

Petroleum

Natural Gas

Nuclear

Hydroelectric

Biomass,Geothermnal, SolarWind

0

10

20

30

40

50

AK AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA

MD

ME MI

MN

MO

MS

MT

NC

ND NE

NH NJ

NM NV NY

OH OK

OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT

VA VT WA WI

WV

WY

State withdrawal factor (gal/kwh)

2010

http://greet.es.anl.gov/publication-watertool

17

http://WATER.es.anl.gov

* Under development

• Launched May, 2013 (grain, beans, residue) ‒ WATER V. 2.0 : May 2014 (grass,

biochemical process) ‒ WATER V. 3.0 : Jan. 2015 (forest

resource, thermochemical processes) • Multiple production pathways;

feedstock production and conversion stages

• Selection of feedstock and biorefinery location at state level

• Metric: fuel product, feedstock, land use, blue, green, and grey water footprint

WATER (Water Analysis Tool for Energy Resources)

An on-line interactive visual tool for water use, water resource, and water

quality assessment

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WATER Application • Enables compatible spatial

resolution with POLYSYS and LEAF, which allows for regional environmental sustainability assessment for a defined biofuel production scenario.

• Provides flexible structure for simulating multiple feedstock production in a region. Process plug-in available.

• Enables potential analysis of the interplay of impacts from multiple sectors on water use when used in conjunction with other models.

• Provide support to bioenergy industry, government, academia, and community for informed decision making.

Presented at National Science and Technology Council’s CENRS (Committee on Environment and Natural Resources), Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality SWAQ meeting in Nov. 2014.

POTWs treat a total of 38.9 trillion liters of wastewater annually in the U.S. Large facilities has a clustered distribution. High density small facilities in Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma,

Pennsylvania, and New England states. Significant amount of reclaimed water were used for cooling in

thermoelectric facilities in U.S. Extensive use of reclaimed water in the Western of U.S. and FL.

Current POTW Facilities in the U.S.

Reclaimed Water Reuse

Manuscript is in preparation

Reclaimed Water Use in the Production of Algae-based Biofuel

• Explore wastewater effluent use in open-pond algae cultivation in southern 17 states in U.S.

• Geographic mismatch between the alternative water source (MMTW effluent) and potential refinery location; algae pond may not be able to located near urban area because land footprint constraint

• Process wastewater /grey water footprint from biorefineries are under investigating.

Chiu and Wu, 2013, BioFPR

Future Applications

Argonne’s WATER modeling – Can be configured to various scales in other regions in the world (climate,

land) – Can include different types of crops and production process – Can incorporate other water related parameters (cost, alternative water)

Address FEW nexus by examining interplay between agricultural sector and energy sector from water perspective

Quantify impacts on agriculture/energy availability by – Climate change – Water resource quality and quantity – Technology advancement – Policy – Population

Acknowledgement

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To learn more about water research at Argonne, please visit http://www.anl.gov/energy-systems/group/water-quality-resources-and-technology

http://water.es.anl.gov/

Contact mwu@anl.gov

Miae Ha Sashi Yalamanchili

Yiwen Chiu Marrianne Mintz

Michael Wang Salil Arora

John Veil NREL, PNNL, ORNL, INL

Chevron, UOP, Energetics, LENEF,

Univ. of Alberta EERE, Bioenergy Technologies Office

EERE, VTO, Clean Cities Program